The Untold Future

The Little Girl

We rode. Even after our foes were long behind us, we rode. We rode until the sun was so low in the sky that the only evidence that it had ever been there was its little sliver peeking above the horizon and the sky itself had turned pink and gold. Finally... finally, finally, finally, we stopped riding. I stopped the quad on a flat piece of road. I got off the quad and took off the pack. I took off the gas cans and tied them to the racks on the back. The little girl's eyes were wide as she looked back at me.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

No response.

"Hey, how did that boy know I was there?"

Nothing. She now looked curious and scared as if I had just spoken to her in a different language.

"Come on, say something!"

I finished tying the rope by pulling it tightly. I threw my pack over my shoulder and got back on the quad runner. The little girl slipped off the front of the quad and backed away. This was the first time I had gotten a good look at her. She was short and looked about seven or eight years old. She wore a multicolored shirt that was tie-dyed along with pink leggings. She also wore Sketchers that lit up as she stepped. She had hair that was styled in a bob. Her hair was straight. It was a nutty brown and her eyes were hazel but looked light brown. She had a short round face and her skin was tanned and it gave her a look that could only be described as "oaky". (Author's note: This word should also exist to describe appearance, so I'm going to make it do so.)

"What are you doing?" I was confused. Did she not understand that I wanted to help her? Why did she back away? I got off the quad again and went over to her. She backed away. I took a knee and gestured to her to come over. She walked slowly over to me. I took off my bag and dug around in my bag until I found it. I pulled it out of my pack.

It was a paracord bracelet. The cord it was made from was pink that was periodically speckled with black. The bracelet had a white buckle. I gently lifted the girl's left arm and undid the buckle of the bracelet. I wrapped the bracelet around her wrist. It was too small for me now but it fit her little wrist perfectly. I stroked her hair. She looked at the bracelet and ran her hands along its pattern.

She turned away from me and looked down the road that we had just come down. She pointed to an orange and yellow blazing splotch down the mountain.

"Fire," I said. The little girl moved her finger down near the base of the road.

"Oh, shit," I said in awe.

There was a mass of different colors. Rows, moving in unison. People. Marching people. Maybe another search party or perhaps the same one from the town, but it didn't matter. Someone burned down the town and someone with a lot of manpower was following us.

I put my hand on the girl's shoulder and she jumped. I gestured toward the quad while staring at the marching mob. She took one last look at the horizon and at the sun. She turned to me and tapped her wrist. She was right. Whatever she meant she was right.

We had already been here to long and we had little time left to get shelter and warmth. I nodded at her and gestured at the Yamaha. She got on the quad and I picked up my bag and joined her. She rode in front of me. I shifted down to neutral and started the quad.

We took off. We rode until the sun was below the horizon and the night sky was trying to hang onto the last shreds of light that the sun provided. I tried to avoid using the headlights because it would attract attention and, in this society... sorry... "society" , attention is something that you don't want or need, but I couldn't help turning the headlights of the quad on. It was getting harder and harder to see. The poor little girl could hardly hold herself up.

We were both fighting exhaustion when we were lucky enough to come upon a section of forest with a pathway we rode up a little bit and pulled off the beaten path. I turned off the quad and its headlights and flipped the kill switch. (Author's note: I'm now realizing that I should probably fill you in on some ATV/quad runner jargon before I continue. First off, like on a gear bike, the lower gears have more power and the higher gears have more speed. There are five gears on the quad the main character is using. When you shift down a gear and don't hit the gas, the quad slows down so gears can be used to help the quad decelerate. Newer quads have automatic gear shifting. The kill switch prevents the quad from starting.  The quad has to be in neutral in order to start. Neutral is the gear below first gear. The choke is a sort of lever that makes the quad run richer, meaning that it uses more fuel in less time. For this reason the choke is only used to warm up the quad's engine before it is put out of use. To change from forward to reverse you have to go down to first gear, hit the brake by your feet, and use the stick on the left side to change from forward to reverse. Sometimes, you have to rock back and forth on the quad and push down on the gear shift to get it in gear so it can be put in reverse. The reason I bring this up is your probably going to yell at the main character later unless I tell you why she had trouble putting the quad in reverse. You're probably still going to yell at her but at least you now understand why she will be in that predicament. Also, fun fact, if you are on dirt and you turn and lean you will drift. I don't condone doing this next to a cliff, tree, or another rider especially not if you're a beginner. Good God that was a lot! Should I make it a separate chapter and call it quad running bible or something? Or maybe quad running for dummies?) I chained and locked the gas cans and quad to tree, took out the key, and covered it with nearby brush and pine needles.

I took my bag from my back and put it on backwards so that it rested on my stomach. I turned to the little girl. She was holding out something that was hanging from her neck. It was a locket. It had the words, Faith and her Family. She was telling me her name.

She shivered in the cold of the winter's night. I put her on my back and tied a rope around the two of us and I started to climb a tree with limbs perfect for us to sleep on. I reached a strong limb and opened my bag. I reached inside and took out a poncho that was just her height but wide enough to where it could fold over her if it rained.

With that poncho and a bit of rope, I made her a makeshift hammock I put my bag in it first to test its stability but I already knew that it would easily hold her weight. I put some warm blankets in the hammock and made a pillow by rolling up a blanket. Without untying her, I brought her around my side and sat her on a sturdy limb. She still hung onto me as I undid the knot and I helped here climb into her hammock. I laid out my sleeping bag in a y branch, tied myself in and slept hard.